24.10.24
Moriarty's tenth novel is about to come out so finding the only other one I hadn't read in the library was serendipitous. This was a fun yet surprisingly complex read - a woman forgetting the last ten years was almost like time travel but it cleverly stopped short of 'young her undoes the mistakes of older her', examining all the implications. Talking of mistakes, I enjoyed it all the way up to the ending(s), which were hugely disappointing, considering what had gone before.
18.08.24
Well written and challenging but not ultimately satisfying. It was probably meant to be a realistic portrayal of trauma, but the meandering, unfocused narrative made it hard to understand - or sympathise with - the protagonist's behaviour. Why didn't she even have a therapist when surely that's mandatory in Hollywood?
Am I awake? I'm not sure after reading this fever-dream of a novel. Utterly bonkers.
I listen to Elizabeth Day's podcast, 'How To Fail' and, while I wouldn't be as crass as to say, 'Here's an example!', this is not a particularly successful novel. It seemed poorly planned and plotted, and not only were the (universally unlikable) characters inconsistent and unconvincing but so was the genre - it seemed to be heading for a thriller and then suddenly it was just a dull domestic drama. It certainly wasn't unsettling, gothic or terrifying, as billed (billed! Magpie! Ha!).
Apparently, I had similar thoughts about another Day novel.
I'm going against the grain here but I didn't find the (neurodiverse?) main character sweet and endearing; I found her distractingly annoying and in need of some proper therapy. It was also pretty dark in places, rather than 'a cosy mystery' (how I hate that phrase), which made the ridiculously happy ending, while not unexpected, rather tacked on. There were surprising layers, but the 'naive narrator' trope was a bit too heavy handed.
04.01.24
Towards the end of this book, the protagonist (and simultaneous antagonist) comments on her 'striking unlikeability and attention-seeking punctuation'. Both these things are true, although we are apparently supposed to believe she is an unreliable narrator, safe in the unquestioning love of her family and (second) husband. The structure was circular and meandering, presumably like the narrator's mind, but that didn't bother me as much as the entitled middle-classness of it all.53%
File under 'quirky police procedural' with another of the traumatised, probably neurodiverse (ADHD?) protagonists that seem popular these days. It was diverting as far as it went, but all extremely unlikely - OK, so it was a work of fiction, but the world- and character-building wasn't strong enough for me to completely suspend my disbelief.
46%
'An absolute joy'? 'Laugh out loud'? 'Hilarious'? Only if you think an irritating narrator with unresolved trauma and possible neurodiversity dealing badly with more trauma is funny. I'm all for dark humour but this wasn't funny - or well paced or feminist or based on any sort of reality (owning a cat is not in itself quirky and weird). After a slow and laboured three-quarters, the ending was rushed, with the emphasis on all the wrong elements.
43%
I'm not sure why I persevered with all 561 pages of this when many more tempting books are literally piling up. For a story about a trendy band enjoying all the subversive aspects of the exciting 1960s, it was incredibly dull. Mitchell can't write convincingly about music - or fame - or women - or mental health issues - and I really dislike fictional characters meeting real people (most of whom are now dead, presumably included to avoid lawsuits). Daisy Jones and the Six was better - hell, even Songs in Ursa Major was better - and the 'other' David Mitchell is more fun.
50%
I don't really get on with tragicomedies. A couple of things in this raised a wry smile but, while marketed as being a funny story about a midlife crisis, it was more about ongoing mental health issues and grief, which aren't particularly funny, and there wasn't even much of a plot. It wasn't so much 'rich people drama' as 'middle-class angst' (and the negative attitude towards only children was irritating).
17.11.22
A ghost who can't communicate or interact - what an unusual idea. Well, there's a reason for that. A protagonist with no agency doesn't make for a great story, and so it depended on rather drawn-out flashbacks to her life. There were some other promising ideas here too but overall it was far too slow, over-researched and unnecessarily complicated for them to be fully explored. And at the end it seemed that (spoiler!) there was no link between the two deaths after all. Another draft needed!
I did like it being set in Peterborough, though - an underrated city I'm vaguely familiar with.
